The first important note is that, at this point, it’s still a competition to make the team for most of the guys on the roster. The desire to carry 30 players into the summer provides the staff insurance against injury, but also means that with the exception of pretty much just face-off specialist Chris Eck, any single other player could still miss the team.

While the how many guys will round out each unit is still to be decided, it’s likely there will be five (maybe six) attackmen and defensemen, seven (maybe eight) middies (including d-middies), two (maybe one) longstick middies, a FOGO and two goalies.

It’s unfair to speculate who’ll make it through at this point (because so much can happen between now and June in terms of performance, injury and chemistry), so this piece will focus on what type of team the roster selections might suggest the staff is trying to build.

A couple of overall observations from the group of 30: it skews young, and international experience didn’t seem to be very valuable to the selectors. It sets up to be a little more defense-oriented than U.S. rosters have been. There seems to be a mix of guys who impressed in the U.S.’s public competitions and guys who didn’t stand out. Versatility, or the ability to play multiple positions, didn’t seem to be either more or less significant in getting picked than in years past.

Next page: Position breakdown

Attack (7)

Ned Crotty

Marcus Holman

Kevin Leveille

Brendan Mundorf

Rob Pannell

Steele Stanwick

Garrett Thul

The biggest exclusion from the 30-man roster is attackman Drew Westervelt, who played a ton of minutes for the U.S. in 2010 (so he has valuable experience in the international game; at the senior level, only Ned Crotty and Brendan Mundorf can make that claim among the seven guys that made it through) and is coming off the best MLL season of his career, putting up 48 points and shooting 45% for the champion Bayhawks.

Brendan Mundorf, Marcus Holman and Garrett Thul are probably the most surprising inclusions, for widely different reasons.

Mundorf carried injuries away from the MLL season that he had addressed by surgery, so he didn’t participate in the tryout process. However, he’s the reigning Attackman of the Tournament after the 2010 World Games, so his inclusion is hard to criticize.

Holman has shown his best stuff in his off-ball play, as a swingman who can run out of the box and be effective when inverting on a shorty and in his toughness, riding and character. In some ways, he’s an analogue to Crotty on the 2010 team — a young guy that can play a specific role that is looked well upon among the team and coaches. Crotty can be a similar player to the role he filled in 2010, or he can play exclusively at X and beat defenders with his speed.

Steele Stanwick and Rob Pannell showed good chemistry on multiple occasions throughout the tryout process, so it’s easy to imagine them being on the field at the same time in Denver despite the apparent impression that they’d compete for minutes (or a spot) because they both like to play behind the goal.

The best American finisher, Leveille is almost as specialized as Eck — his inclusion is almost solely dependent on whether (or to what degree) Meade and offensive coordinator Jeff Tambroni want to base their offense around an inside guy.

Next: Midfield

Midfield (7)

Kevin Buchanan

David Lawson

Matt Mackrides

JoJo Marasco

Paul Rabil

Max Seibald

Drew Snider

Given the make-up of the team, it’s likely that many, many important possessions will start up top with the ball in Paul Rabil’s stick. Among the middies who made it, Dave Lawson and Max Seibald are probably the other dodgers who one would expect to fill that role, but both of those guys have shown the ability to play defense (especially Seibald in Manchester) that it might be fair to ask whether they’ll be up for beating longsticks regularly from up top given how much else they realistically could be asked to do (granted, all that could be said about Rabil, as well).

That’s what Jeremy Sieverts’ exclusion is a bit surprising. With Kyle Dixon and Joe Walters not participating in the tryout process, Sieverts is the prototypical dodging middie with the most MLL success. Ben Hunt and Steven Brooks were other guys who filled that role throughout the tryout, impressively at times.

JoJo Marasco can start possessions, too, but he’s developed a rep as a passer — which is obviously an important role and can be even more significant depending on the style of offense implemented. He and Kevin Buchanan offer a Crotty/Holman level of versatility coming out of the midfield — because they so frequently start their dodges on the wing and have drawn poles so frequently throughout their careers, they can play attack, as well.

One might think the same could be said about Mackrides (and in specific instances, would be right, especially given that he was a premier attackman coming out of high school and played attack at Penn State), but generally he’s turned into more of a shooter since joining the Bayhawks; he had 21 goals and nine assists shooting 39% last season.

To that end, he’s a bit similar to Drew Snider, whose cannon-shot ended many possessions for the Outlaws in a breakout campaign last year. Still, Snider also has picked up 70 groundballs in 24 MLL games and showed some good on-ball D in the tryout, so realistically he might be the most versatile player on the U.S.’s roster.

Next: SSDM and face-off

SSDM (4)

Matt Abbott

Dan Burns

Kyle Harrison

Jeff Reynolds

It’s an interesting group — Abbott seems like a lock. Burns and Reynolds have similar profiles as shortsticks in MLL, though they defend different ways (and, to a degree, are better on different types of players, as a result) — Burns is more of a speed guy, Reynolds is more of a size guy. Their inclusion, or picking one over the other, might smartly be influenced by who Canada selects as their middies. Harrison has the strongest offensive resume of the four, and when he’s right, the pop in his step could mean he doesn’t just turn D into O, but actually comes out of the box for some offensive runs. He’s also the most veteran of the four, and made the U.S. team in 2006. Comments have been and will be made about his face-off ability and whether he can support Eck; it’s possible, but likely won’t (and shouldn’t) be a significant factor in whether he makes the 23-man team.

In Matt Zash, Kevin Cassese and Chris Schiller, it’s fair to say Mike Pressler selected three shortsticks in 2010. It may happen again.

F/O (1)

Chris Eck

Made a name for himself beating Alex Smith in MLL, now he’s Smith’s successor at the position that was most heavily scrutinized in the last selection process. After Greg Gurenlian withdrew from consideration prior to Champion Challenge, Eck’s only challengers were Anthony Kelly and Mike Poppleton. As an outsider, it’s hard to go beyond simple wins and losses to know what factors led to choosing Eck (and it’s also difficult to know what the results of wins/losses were in practice), but it’s a disappointing end of the tryout road for Kelly, who’s overcome so many injuries (after being overlooked for so long early in his career) to get to the final three American candidates. Poppleton figures to be in this conversation for years to come.

Next: Defense

Defense (8)

Mitch Belisle

Jesse Bernhardt

Tucker Durkin

Michael Evans

Joe Fletcher

Kyle Hartzell

Brian Karalunas

Lee Zink

In tryout reporting and selection speculation, a chorus emerged — the fewest questions were at close defense. Lee Zink, Michael Evans and Tucker Durkin seemed like locks, and Joe Fletcher played his way into that conversation (with the exception of whether taking a current college player would be a hangup for the staff).

Without distinguishing between close D and longstick middie, it seems Belisle is grouped in down low (though, remember he’s played everything over the course of his MLL career, including shorty during his time with the LA Riptide) and Bernhardt, Hartzell and Karalunas will battle it out for LSM runs. If that’s the case, it very well may be that the close D is set with those five, and two of the three LSMs are battling to get picked.

Bernhardt didn’t play at Champion Challenge because of injury, so it’s difficult to say what type of player the staff views him to be (or if it’s any different from what fans made of him during his Maryland career). Karalunas impressed with his hounding takeaway ability up top. Hartzell is big and has indoor experience, which could be beneficial vs. Canadians.

Next: Goalie

Goalie (3)

Drew Adams

John Galloway

Jesse Schwartzman

Goalie is similar to FOGO in that, even though success can be defined so clearly statistically, it’s difficult to quantify the other elements that might go into the decision, not just because fans/media were only able to see a small sample of what each did on the field, but also because we’re not privy to the coaches’ conversations to indicate what type of goalie they want behind what type of defense.

The narrative of this group is established — Adams is probably the best pure shot-stopper, Galloway is probably the best in the clearing game, and Schwartzman is the best communicator/has the most presence. I don’t know that any of those things are true, however.

What stands out to me about this group is how they’ll attack the dynamic that the U.S. Team took some heat for after the 2006 World Games — not having a clear starter and a clear backup, instead choosing to rotate games or halves — and addressed in 2010 by choosing Brian Dougherty and Adam Fullerton.

While Jesse Schwartzman is probably the strongest (some might say brashest) personality in the group, I don’t think there’s a clear dynamic to how that might play out. In fact, Kip Turner, the lone goalie from the 50-player pool not to advance, has the most experience as a backup.

***

There’s a lot to like about this player pool, and there are some decisions that will get criticized if the U.S. doesn’t win gold. But as always, it’s the staff’s reputation that’s on the line, so it’s their prerogative to build the team with which they’re most comfortable.